In Honor of the Forthcoming Barclays Center Card, We Pay Tribute To Brooklyn’s Rich Boxing Heritage

Published

9 years ago

January 6, 2016

BARCLAYS-SEATING 70ece

WBC heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder opposes Artur Szpilka in the main event of the January 16 boxing show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. In the main supporting bout, Charles Martin meets Vyachelov Glazkov for the IBF heavyweight belt vacated by Tyson Fury.

The 19,000-seat Barclays Center, Brooklyn’s instant monument, opened in September of 2012. It has housed 15 boxing shows, but the Jan. 16 event will be the first in which heavyweights get top billing. As co-promoter Lou DiBella notes, 115 years have elapsed since the last heavyweight title fight in Brooklyn.

That’s an awfully long time considering Brooklyn’s rich boxing heritage.

During the late nineteenth century when boxing was transitioning from the bare-knuckle to the gloved era, few fighters were as lionized as Jack Dempsey (the original Jack Dempsey) and Jack McAuliffe. Dempsey was active from 1883 to 1895. In his prime he was considered peerless, hence his nickname “Nonpareil.” McAuliffe, dubbed the Napoleon of the Prize Ring, competed from 1885 to 1897. He retired undefeated.

Born 39 months apart in Ireland, Dempsey and McAuliffe were young children when they settled with their parents in Brooklyn. Lore has it that for a time they were co-workers in a Williamsburg barrel manufacturing plant.

Nonpareil Jack Dempsey had his last fight at Coney Island. For a time, the seaside community at the southern tip of Brooklyn rivaled New Orleans and San Francisco as the leading destination for prizefights of international importance.

Coney Island hadn’t yet morphed into a family amusement center. Home to three important racetracks, Coney Island after dark mirrored New York City’s infamous Bowery, a place identified with low-brow entertainment. It was a natural locale for prizefighting, a sport widely condemned as immoral.

The highlights of the Coney Island epoch were the three fights involving James J. Jeffries. On June 9, 1899, Jeffries wrested the heavyweight crown from the head of Bob Fitzsimmons with an 11^th round stoppage. Later that year he repelled the challenge of Sailor Tom Sharkey. On May 11, 1900, he conquered James J. Corbett, stopping the former champion in the 23^rd round.

The Jeffries-Sharkey sockfest was a doozy. For many years this bout, a 25-round affair, was considered the most brutal heavyweight title fight. There were no judges in those days. If a fight went the distance, the referee merely raised the hand of the fighter that he thought had the best of it. There was no protest when referee George Siler raised the hand of Jeffries, but the stout-hearted Sharkey cemented his reputation as one rough customer.

Boxing was resurrected in Coney Island during the 1920s. One of the more noteworthy cards staged at Coney Island Stadium was held on May 25, 1926. It featured Ruby Goldstein, an 18-year-old knockout artist from Manhattan’s Lower East Side (and later a prominent referee). Goldstein, who had acquired an avid following, was pitted against Ace Hudkins, the Nebraska Wildcat.

Hudkins wasn’t much older than Goldstein, but he was considerably more seasoned. He would saddle young Ruby with his first defeat, knocking him out in the fourth round.

Rising featherweight contender Tony Canzoneri also appeared on that card. Born in Slidell, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, Canzoneri had most of his early pro fights in Brooklyn and adopted the borough as his home. He went on to win the New York version of the world featherweight title and the world lightweight title.

The career of Canzoneri, a future Hall of Famer, provides a window into a bygone era, an era when Brooklyn was awash in neighborhood fight clubs and the best boxers, with few exceptions, had dozens of undercard fights on their ledgers before they succeeded in landing a main event.

Canzoneri had his first pro fight in July of 1925. Over the next 25 months, he fought 48 times. Twenty-four of those fights were in Brooklyn; seven in the neighboring borough of Queens.

In Brooklyn, Canzoneri fought at Ridgewood Grove (a facility that straddled the Brooklyn-Queens border), the Broadway Arena, the Fort Hamilton Arena, Coney Island Stadium, Canarsie Stadium, and Ebbets Field.

Boxing at Ebbets Field never reached the heights that it did in the big baseball parks across the river in the Bronx, but the hallowed home of the Dodgers had a few moments in the sun. Former middleweight champion Mickey Walker, outweighed by almost 30 pounds, battled Jack Sharkey to a 15-round draw on July 22, 1931. Later that year, a crowd estimated at 30,000 (an impressive turnout considering the economic climate) watched Sharkey outpoint Primo Carnera in a bout billed for the American heavyweight title.

Of the aforementioned boxing arenas, the Broadway Arena, in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, and Ridgewood Grove were the busiest. The Broadway, which could trace its lineage as a home for boxing to 1914, was the top fight club in the metropolitan area during the 1930s and 1940s. It likely hosted more than a thousand shows before it shut down in 1951. Researchers have documented 1,229 boxing shows at Ridgewood Grove from 1920 to 1954.

These clubs, run on shoestring budgets, were nurseries for fighters on the way up and ATM machines, of a sort, for journeymen and fighters on the way down. Few fighters seized the imagination of the public on the way up like Rocky Graziano. His career, like so many boxers, paralleled that of Tony Canzoneri, albeit the Brooklyn phase of Graziano’s career was shorter. He debuted at the Broadway Arena, the first of his 14 fights in Brooklyn.

The Eastern Parkway Arena was a late addition to the Brooklyn boxing scene. The converted roller rink at 1435 Eastern Parkway hosted a weekly Monday Night show that ran on the Dumont network from May 19, 1952 to May 16, 1955.

Carl “Bobo” Olson, from Honolulu by way of San Francisco, and Gene Fullmer, from West Jordan, Utah, had their first New York exposures at Eastern Parkway. Matchmaker Teddy Brenner, who served in the same capacity at Madison Square Garden, was testing them to see if they were worthy of fighting on a larger stage. Indeed they were, especially Fullmer, who engaged Sugar Ray Robinson in a robust four-fight series.

The most famous alumnus of this venue was Floyd Patterson. Eleven of his first 16 pro fights were at Eastern Parkway Arena. In 1956, the Brooklyn-based Patterson became the youngest man to win the heavyweight title, a distinction he held for 30 years.

The Eastern Parkway Arena was in the Brownsville section, a fertile pod of fistic talent. During the first half of the 20^th century, Brownsville boxers were disproportionately Jewish. As the neighborhood changed, so also did the pigmentation of her boxers. Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad did more than uphold Brownsville’s boxing legacy; they took it to a new level.

Mike Tyson never fought in Brooklyn; Riddick Bowe only once after turning pro, an early bout at Gleason’s Gym that was little more than a public workout. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, born Edward Gregory, never fought in Brooklyn either but had several engagements at Sunnyside Garden in Queens, a place that was a nursery for his former amateur rival, Brooklyn’s Vito Antuofermo. When Sunnyside Garden closed in 1977, the obit eulogized the cozy arena as the last of New York’s neighborhood fight clubs.

Philadelphia’s Danny Garcia met Tijuana’s Erik Morales in the main go of the inaugural boxing card at Barclays Center. The undercard was spiced with local fighters: Paulie Malignaggi, Daniel Jacobs, Luis Collazo, Peter Quillin, and Dmitriy Salita. In the wings, figuratively if not literally, were Tyson, Bowe, Mustafa Muhammad, Antuofermo, Shannon Briggs, Zab Judah, Mark Breland, Juan LaPorte, and Junior Jones.

They say that boxing is dead, a refrain that was heard even in the best of times. Then it blooms anew where it was previously dormant. Boxing in Brooklyn was ripe for a renaissance. Barclays Center arrived at a propitious time.

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Arne K. Lang

Skylar Lacy Blocked for Lamar Jackson before Making his Mark in Boxing

Published

3 days ago

January 19, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Skylar-Lacy-Blocked-for-Lamar-Jackson-Before-Making-his-Mark-in-Boxing

Skylar Lacy, a six-foot-seven heavyweight, returns to the ring on Sunday, Feb. 2, opposing Brandon Moore on a card in Flint, Michigan, airing worldwide on DAZN.

As this is being written, the bookmakers hadn’t yet posted a line on the bout, but one couldn’t be accused of false coloring by calling the 10-round contest a 50/50 fight. And if his frustrating history is any guide, Lacy will have another draw appended to his record or come out on the wrong side of a split decision.

This should not be construed as a tip to wager on Moore. “Close fights just don’t seem to go my way,” says the boxer who played alongside future multi-year NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the University of Louisville.

A 2021 National Golden Gloves champion, Skylar Lacy came up short in his final amateur bout, losing a split decision to future U.S. Olympian Joshua Edwards. His last Team Combat League assignment resulted in another loss by split decision and he was held to a draw in both instances when stepping up in class as a pro. “In my mind, I’m still undefeated,” says Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs). “No one has ever kicked my ass.”

Lacy was the B-side in both of those draws, the first coming in a 6-rounder against Top Rank fighter Antonio Mireles on a Top Rank show in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second in an 8-rounder against George Arias, a Lou DiBella fighter on a DiBella-promoted card in Philadelphia.

Lacy had the Mireles fight in hand when he faded in the homestretch. The altitude was a factor. Lake Tahoe, Nevada (officially Stateline) sits 6,225 feet above sea level. The fight with Arias took an opposite tack. Lacy came on strong after a slow start to stave off defeat.

Skylar will be the B-side once again in Michigan. The card’s promoter, former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita, inked Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in January. “A capable American heavyweight with charisma, athleticism and skills is rare in today’s day and age. Brandon has got all these ingredients…”, said Salita in the press release announcing the signing. (Salita has an option on Skylar Lacy’s next pro fight in the event that Skylar should win, but the promoter has a larger investment in Moore who was previously signed to Top Rank, a multi-fight deal that evaporated after only one fight.)

Both Lacy and Moore excelled in other sports. The six-foot-six Moore was an outstanding basketball player in high school in Fort Lauderdale and at the NAIA level in college. Lacy was an all-state football lineman in Indiana before going on to the University of Louisville where he started as an offensive guard as a redshirt sophomore, blocking for freshman phenom Lamar Jackson. “Lamar was hard-working and humble,” says Lacy about the player who is now one of the world’s highest-paid professional athletes.

When Lacy committed to Louisville, the head coach was Charlie Strong who went on to become the head coach at the University of Texas. Lacy was never comfortable with Strong’s successor Bobby Petrino and transferred to San Jose State. Having earned his degree in only three years (a BA in communications) he was eligible immediately but never played a down because of injuries.

Returning to Indianapolis where he was raised by his truck dispatcher father, a single parent, Lacy gravitated to Pat McPherson’s IBG (Indy Boxing and Grappling) Gym on the city’s east side where he was the rare college graduate pounding the bags alongside at-risk kids from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

Lacy built a 12-6 record across his two seasons in Team Combat League while representing the Las Vegas Hustle (2023) and the Boston Butchers (2024).

For the uninitiated, a Team Combat League (TCL) event typically consists of 24 fights, each consisting of one three-minute round. The concept finds no favor with traditionalists, but Lacy is a fan. It’s an incentive for professional boxers to keep in shape between bouts without disturbing their professional record and, notes Lacy, it’s useful in exposing a competitor to different styles.

“It paid the bills and kept me from just sitting around the house,” says Lacy whose 12-6 record was forged against 13 different opponents.

As a sparring partner, Lacy has shared the ring with some of the top heavyweights of his generation, e.g., Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He was one of Fury’s regular sparring partners during the Gypsy King’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder. He worked with Joshua at Derrick James’ gym in Dallas and at Ben Davison’s gym in England, helping Joshua prepare for his date in Saudi Arabia with Francis Ngannou and had previously sparred with Ngannou at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas. Skylar names traveling to new places as one of his hobbies and he got to scratch that itch when he joined Whyte’s camp in Portugal.

As to the hardest puncher he ever faced, he has no hesitation: “Ngannou,” he says. “I negotiated a nice price to spend a week in his camp and the first time he hit me I knew I should have asked for more.”

Lacy is confident that having shared the ring with some of the sport’s elite heavyweights will get him over the hump in what will be his first 10-rounder (Brandon Moore has never had to fight beyond eight rounds, having won his three 10-rounders inside the distance). Lacy vs. Moore is the co-feature to Claressa Shields’ homecoming fight with Danielle Perkins. Shields, basking in the favorable reviews accorded the big-screen biopic based on her first Olympic journey (“The Fire Inside”) will attempt to capture a title in yet another weight class at the expense of the 42-year-old Perkins, a former professional basketball player.

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Mizuki Hiruta Dominates in her U.S. Debut and Omar Trinidad Wins Too at Commerce

Published

5 days ago

January 18, 2025

David A. Avila

Mizuki-Hiruta-Dominates-in-her-U.S.-Debut-and-Trinidad-Wins-Too-at-Commerce

Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.

Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.

In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.

It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.

For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.

Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.

It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.

“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”

Trinidad Wins Too

Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.

Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.

“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”

After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.

Other Bouts

Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.

Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.

Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.

More Winners

Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Published

6 days ago

January 16, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.

Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.

Hopefully the worst is over.

Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.

Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.

“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.

He knows talent.

Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.

Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.

Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.

Can Trinidad reach world title status?

Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.

It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.

Mizukii Hiruta

Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.

Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Boxing and the Media

The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.

Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.

Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.

Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.

MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.

Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.

Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.

It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.

Photos credit: Lina Baker

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